Udupi
While the first trip to Manipal, would be our first long distance bike ride, this one to Udupi was different. We were not amateur bike riders anymore, we knew our constraints well, and prepared for all possible contingencies, except for one. We had a cat onboard, and had to transport him across the sub continent, about 1000 kms, to the west coast of India. Well, If you thought that was typo, it’s not, as crazy as it sounds, we did have a cat with us, on a 40 hour motorcycle ride.
The decision to travel to Udupi, for a second time in the space of a year, would come under very special circumstances. The world had just gone through an enduring pandemic and was slowly starting to tend towards a new form of normalcy. For us, this was bitter-sweet. On one hand, Indian states would open their doors to domestic travel again, and on the other, most of us had to go back to our colleges, to complete the remainder of our bachelors education. I would be on the cusp of leaving to Sweden for higher studies, while our other friend, had already left to Manipal. Due to several reasons, she had to leave her cat; Nobu, at home, in Hyderabad. The only feasible way to transport him was to take him along with us, and this decision came about a few days before the official travel date.
I have to say that, this was the most prepared we were for a motorcycle trip. The bike was serviced prior to the trip. We had enough money to finance the trip, we dressed appropriately, planned our route, started at an ideal time of the day, and had the perfect motorcycle accessories to aid a long distance motorcycle ride. Google maps, predicted that it would take us 14 hours, however, knowing our constraints, we would prepare ourselves for a 20 hour ride.
As luck would have it, things went south right from the word go. It was a challenge to get Nobu to trust us and make him sit in the cat carrier, understandably so. It would be 3 hours, until we left the outskirts of Hyderabad. When we finally set off, the bike would overheat and give up, on many occasions. This would be accompanied by a serious downpour, one that would force us to stop. It would take us a staggering 8 hours to cover a measly distance of 250 kms. It was at this point at which we had second thoughts, we were questioning if it was feasible to continue, or should we head back to Hyderabad.
If we were reasonable enough to make the decision to go back home, I would not have a story to tell you and write this blog today. The rain stopped, I was tending to Nobu, I started cruising, the engine started running, and before we knew it, we were crossing state borders, and making progress. The drive was nothing new to us, we were aware of how challenging it would be. This confidence came about by virtue of our experience. We constantly faced hurdles that would set us back hours and push our ETA. We were interrogated by cops who thought we were smuggling some exotic animal, we lost important exits, stagnant rainwater was knee-deep, and on top of everything, fatigue was setting in.
From sunrise to reaching our destination, I remember everything very hazily. We just barely survived the ordeal. All I remember is how relived I was when I reached my friends’ place. Relived that we made it, and relieved off the responsibility of getting Nobu safely. In Hindsight, I wouldn’t have done anything differently. The fact that I got to experience this with my best friend by my side, overwhelms me with emotion, as I know we will never be in that moment again. We will perhaps do something different, something better, but the bitter truth about life is that once time has passed, it’s passed. There’s nothing as certain as time, and as I write this blog, I realise that I am nothing but a collection of moments, a writer of every moment in my life that’s worth sharing with you. I owe it to myself to make every moment I live worth writing about.
If our lifetime is just a moment on the cosmic scale, then we don’t have much time, do we? Let’s make the most of the life we have, for there’s not another life that’s greater than yours’.